Nation and world news

June 23, 2014 — 1:13am

Kin Cheung • Associated Presshong kong vote: Participation in an informal poll to gauge Hong Kong’s desire for democracy is exceeding expectations, helped by volunteers across the former British colony who are reaching potential voters in subway stations and malls.

Rep. Kevin McCarthy, in his first appearance on the Sunday news talk shows as House majority leader, said he thinks the often fractious GOP caucus can do business with President Obama, but Senate Democrats might be tougher. “I believe you can work with anybody,” McCarthy said on “Fox News Sunday.” McCarthy, elected to the No. 2 House leadership post last week, blamed Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, for not taking up “more than 240 bills” that had been passed by the GOP-controlled House.

New Mexico

Crews fight remains of Navajo blaze

Hundreds of firefighters scoured steep and rugged terrain just east of the Arizona-New Mexico border for any hot spots left from a wildfire that has scorched more than 22 square miles of the Navajo Nation. Some pockets of pinon and juniper were still smoldering and flames were creeping along the interior of the Assayii Lake Fire.

Spain

3 arrested in illegal book publishing

Police have arrested three people on suspicion of illegally scanning and then unlawfully publishing books on a massive scale. The investigation follows a complaint from the copyright protection arm of Spain’s authors and publishers association. It said it had detected evidence of a large-scale operation to scan original works. A police statement said investigators turned up eight large-capacity photocopying facilities in Madrid and Seville where works by prestigious authors were copied.

South Korea

Wanted soldier trades fire with troops

A South Korean army sergeant who fled his unit on the border with North Korea after killing five fellow soldiers engaged in a shootout with troops chasing him. His unit brought his parents to the scene, asking them to persuade their son to surrender. South Korean news media reported that an officer was hit in the arm by one of the bullets fired by the fugitive soldier. By Sunday evening, the military evacuated 540 people from three villages to nearby schools.

Aiming to jolt the rest of the world to action, President Barack Obama moved ahead Sunday with even tougher greenhouse gas cuts on American power plants, setting up a certain confrontation in the courts with energy producers and Republican-led states.